Terms and conditions of use
Circe
1893
- Medium
- bronze
- Measurements
- 205.5 × 79.4 × 93.4 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Paris, France
- Inscription
- cast in base in rear l.r.: Bertram Mackennal / 1893
cast in base in rear l.l.: E. GRUET JNE FONDEUR. PARIS. (JNE underlined)
cast in base l.c.: KIP KH - Accession Number
- 478-2
- Department
- Australian Sculpture
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1910 - Gallery location
- Gallery 7
Level 2, NGV Australia - About this work
-
Taken from Homer’s Odyssey, Circe was a sorceress who turned her victims into beasts. This life-size femme fatale was Mackennal’s largest work to date, and was clearly meant to make a daring proclamation. First exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1893, Circe was awarded a Mention honourable. The following year it was shown in London as a plaster, and created a sensation when exhibition organisers draped its base to hide the ambiguously entwined figures.
